Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
I was curious about what other opinions were on this. I really like the lore of the game, and the way it seems to really stress building a person as opposed to a page of relevant number values.
Does anyone have some experience with this game and can talk about it? What's the flow like? The pacing?
I have seen it in the store a few times and read very little about it but I honestly don't know enough to make any actual comments on the systems. I am interested in hearing about it if anyone has experience.
These are my opinions. This is how I feel. Others may feel differently. This needs to be stated for some reason.
At one time I would have recommended it without hesitation. However, that was during the AEG 1st ed. days. With the move to FFG, I have no idea how the system works any more. If you can get the AEG 1st edition or even 2nd ed, I'd say go for it. It is a clean system that gives the player a lot of control in play without a lot of clutter/modifiers. It is based on d10s with a roll and keep mechanism (in 1st ed you kept your attribute, in 2nd ed you kept your skill). For example, as a starting character, my bushi rolled 5d10 with his katana. His Agility was 3 and his Kenjutsu skill was 2. The average bushi usually had a defense of 15, so that is my target number, so I have a good if not great chance of making that. Now let's say I wanted to impress onlookers or demoralize the enemy and decapitate my foe. That's +15 to the basic TN for a 30. Not a great chance with a keep of 3. There are some mitigating factors; 1st, a natural "10" explodes, letting you roll it again, if you get another 10 that die keeps rolling. 2nd, you have a limited number of Void points, based on your Void attribute. Spent before a roll you get to roll and keep an extra d10, so in this example 6 keep 4. It's that simple. You can settle for the sure thing and get basic effects, or take risks for high reward. I used a combat example as my character did call lots of head shots, but similar things can happen with magic, or social skills. After all, you may need to impress your Clan Daimyo, or the Emperor himself!
LordofHats wrote: I was curious about what other opinions were on this. I really like the lore of the game, and the way it seems to really stress building a person as opposed to a page of relevant number values.
Does anyone have some experience with this game and can talk about it? What's the flow like? The pacing?
I have played in a one shot of the new system. While I love the background of L5R, I found the new system to be a bit clunky. I think they would have been better of just using their Star Wars/Genesys system rather than a new dice mechanic. It also doesn't help that their system specific dice are sometimes hard to make out the symbols from a distance on the black dice. I do find that their books and free adventures are well written and have excellent presentation. But reading well and looking pretty doesn't cut it for a role playing game. LOL
Honestly I'm just curious what the general flow of the game is like. It looks like it heavily encourages RolePlay and swings the pendulum of interest toward non-combat solutions to problems. That's just me looking at the rules though. I'm curious what the game is actually like in practice.
LordofHats wrote: Honestly I'm just curious what the general flow of the game is like. It looks like it heavily encourages RolePlay and swings the pendulum of interest toward non-combat solutions to problems. That's just me looking at the rules though. I'm curious what the game is actually like in practice.
That's what our games turned out to be.
Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing
LordofHats wrote: Honestly I'm just curious what the general flow of the game is like. It looks like it heavily encourages RolePlay and swings the pendulum of interest toward non-combat solutions to problems. That's just me looking at the rules though. I'm curious what the game is actually like in practice.
I would say that's been more or less true in all editions, if only because combat has always been potentially very lethal and quite swingy. This edition it actually has added social mechanics that encourage further to talk it out or force the opposition to lose face.
One thing I was not too keen about originally were the "weird" dice. See, up until the current edition L5R used a system called "Roll and Keep", where you'd pick as many d10s as your Attribute rank + skill rank and you'd roll them all, keeping and adding the shown values of a number of them up to your attribute rank (and any die showing a 10 was rerolled and the new result added to that 10. The were called an explosive die). The result had to be equal or higher to the Target Number of the roll to be a success, and you could also declare "raises", where you'd raise the TN by 5. If you didn't reach the raised TN you'd fail, but if you did you'd get a better success.
This edition, though, the system is still named "Roll and Keep", but it now uses two kinds of propietary dice, and the roll has changed a bit. Now when rolling you pick a number of Ring dice (the black d6s) equal to the ring related to the approach you're taking to solve the problem and a number of skill dice (the white d12s) equal to the skill rank. These dice have the same four symbols with different spreads:
- Success: Just what it is. Each one of this counts as a success. All kept successes are added and compared to the TN.
- Explosive success: A success that you can reroll and add to the original die.
- Opportunity: Opportunity results are positive effects that occur even if you fail to meet the TN.
- Strife: Built up emotions. Samurais live in a very strict society, and publicly showing emotions is shameful, but people's people, and they still feel them. This is not bad, per se, but if you blow your gasket at the wrong time, well...
The rest is more or less the same: you roll the dice, keep as many of them as the ring involved, and count the symbols. If your successes (regular and explosive) are equal or higher to the TN, you succeed, and you resolve any opportunity and any Strife buildup.
As I said before, I wasn't really all too keen at first, to be honest, but the new way of rolling has been quite a hit at the table.
While not mechanically related at all, I do have very fond memories of 3.X's Rokugan book. We had some great adventures in the Lot5R world using D&D (3.5, and maybe some Pathfinder rules). Super fun world to have a narrative campaign in.
Can't speak to the mechanics of the rulesset, though.
Of ocurse, FFG had to add Proprietary Dice! How else do you make money?
In other news, I am glad to hear that the dice are still swingy and combat is still pretty lethal causing you to think of other alternatives and rewarding them beyond just combat.
Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
https://www.patreon.com/Bloodandspectaclespublishing
I'm not that worried about the proprietary dice honestly. I mean, it's gimmicky, but you can use standard D6s and D12s with a chart that's right in the book that I'd memorize after a few roles anyway.
I'm gonna start hunting for a group. I like the lore, and clunky isn't that much of a draw back as long as it's not too clunky. I really like the roleplaying mechanics and want to give it a try. Plus the lore. The people who made this setting did their research and it shows in the tiny details.
LordofHats wrote: I'm not that worried about the proprietary dice honestly. I mean, it's gimmicky, but you can use standard D6s and D12s with a chart that's right in the book that I'd memorize after a few roles anyway.
If you can, you can also print the sides of the dice using the sheet on the beta (which is still up on DrivethruRPG) and adhesive paper to make your own dice. Or you could print your own dice with a 3d printer (I've... kinda done both ^^).
I'm gonna start hunting for a group. I like the lore, and clunky isn't that much of a draw back as long as it's not too clunky. I really like the roleplaying mechanics and want to give it a try. Plus the lore. The people who made this setting did their research and it shows in the tiny details.
The setting is absolutely rife with roleplaying opportunities, and on the research side they're doing much better lately. Still, you should remember this is a pastiche, it is supposed to be an amalgamation of several different places' cultures and mores, even though Japan is the biggest and baddest of those.
Mostly I'm just amazed they actually seemed to have read Musashi's book at one point or another. Not that it's perfect or anything, but they definitely read it XD
I still have most of the books and enjoy reading them - especailly Scorpion clan lore - (love their take on ninja's):
Spoiler:
Basically young apprentacies sent out in outrageous nonsense uniforms and with laughable weapons to distract from the reall assassin.
and of course their take on the scorpion and the frog story:
A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream. The scorpion asks the frog to carry him across the stream on its back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "because if I sting you while you cross the stream, surely I shall drown too."
The frog is satisfied, and they set out. But in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, but has just enough time to gasp. "Why? Why would you do this to me?"
"But little frog, I can swim."
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2019/07/27 12:01:37
I AM A MARINE PLAYER
"Unimaginably ancient xenos artefact somewhere on the planet, hive fleet poised above our heads, hidden 'stealer broods making an early start....and now a bloody Chaos cult crawling out of the woodwork just in case we were bored. Welcome to my world, Ciaphas."
Inquisitor Amberley Vail, Ordo Xenos
"I will admit that some Primachs like Russ or Horus could have a chance against an unarmed 12 year old novice but, a full Battle Sister??!! One to one? In close combat? Perhaps three Primarchs fighting together... but just one Primarch?" da001
I played a bit of the 1st edition. I like the mechanics, but the combat was WAY lethal. Which is good for realism/most campaigns. But when trying to do a more epic fantasy take, you’d end up with 2-3 PCs getting killed every time swords came out. A little tweaking fixed this. I think we went 3xHPs and used most of the optional void point rules.
Love the setting. Played a lot of the CCG for many long years, the storytelling and setting were heads and shoulder above anything anyone was doing at the time. I kinda lost track after the Clan Wars ended and they started moving the timeframe forward. That and the changes to the card backs killed me.
Read the novels, and have most of the 1st ed books on the shelf. Good stuff.
Mr Morden wrote: I still have most of the books and enjoy reading them - especailly Scorpion clan lore - (love their take on ninja's):
Spoiler:
Basically young apprentacies sent out in outrageous nonsense uniforms and with laughable weapons to distract from the reall assassin.
and of course their take on the scorpion and the frog story:
A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream. The scorpion asks the frog to carry him across the stream on its back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "because if I sting you while you cross the stream, surely I shall drown too."
The frog is satisfied, and they set out. But in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, but has just enough time to gasp. "Why? Why would you do this to me?"
"But little frog, I can swim."
I miss my Scorpion. (Rokugan, D&D 3.5)
He would lie, cheat, steal, and murder to get ahead. Because he needed resources to do what needed doing, for the Empire. Duty came before all. Even before honor.
He was entirely onboard his clan/family's drug operation. That's how his family made money. Which was needed to fund their clandestine operations. In duty to the Empire.
He would go out of his way to help anyone he could. He believed in the highest laws of the land - the Way Things Should Be. So he could be considered Lawful Good.
And he had a Mask of Disguise. DnD rogues generally swear by a ring of invisibility. But to a fast talker, with a great DM, a Mask of Disguise is just so much more.
(His CHA was his highest stat - his DEX was good, but not outstanding.)
Since you bring up the lore/world as what you're into, and not necessarily the RPG kit, I'm re-bringing-up the Rokugan book for D&D 3.0. It's a fantastic entrypoint into the world, and D&D mechanics did it justice in our campaigns. Works just fine in a 3.5 or Pathfinder campaign. Can't speak to porting it to 5E, though.
Since you bring up the lore/world as what you're into, and not necessarily the RPG kit, I'm re-bringing-up the Rokugan book for D&D 3.0. It's a fantastic entrypoint into the world, and D&D mechanics did it justice in our campaigns. Works just fine in a 3.5 or Pathfinder campaign. Can't speak to porting it to 5E, though.
I would agree. I am currently reading through the Rokugan book for D&D 3.0. It is a great read. You can also get it for under $10 new from TrollandToad.com. That is where I got mine.
We were just talking about it, what with GenCon being around the corner, and it is a game I know about and have read the book but never seen anyone play nor has anyone around here run it. The CCG is similiar in that I've seen the cards for sale for many years but never seen anyone playing it, only rearing its head at GenCon but even then not seen it played just banners and the like.
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
L5r: Legend of the Five Rings Story Parts It is not complete, but it is a start on the older AEG-era lore. I do know some things in FFG's version have changed in the card game, and I assume that will hold true of their RPG.
Since you bring up the lore/world as what you're into, and not necessarily the RPG kit, I'm re-bringing-up the Rokugan book for D&D 3.0. It's a fantastic entrypoint into the world, and D&D mechanics did it justice in our campaigns. Works just fine in a 3.5 or Pathfinder campaign. Can't speak to porting it to 5E, though.
I would agree. I am currently reading through the Rokugan book for D&D 3.0. It is a great read. You can also get it for under $10 new from TrollandToad.com. That is where I got mine.
To be honest, I'm not much of a 3.X fan to begin with, but in the specific case of L5R I felt that the system was particularly unsuited to the setting. Most of 3.x rules were simply shoehorned into Rokugan as the new Oriental Adventures setting instead of Kara Tur, and I feel it's trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. But if you're really invested into the 3.x system it could be a good intro I guess.
The 3.x Rokugan book is quite decent, though, but the R&K equivalents (particularly the Emerald Empire and Great Clans books from 4E and the Emerald Empire book from 5E, or 1E Way of series) are significantly better, even if not always prettier.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/07/30 09:09:31
Since you bring up the lore/world as what you're into, and not necessarily the RPG kit, I'm re-bringing-up the Rokugan book for D&D 3.0. It's a fantastic entrypoint into the world, and D&D mechanics did it justice in our campaigns. Works just fine in a 3.5 or Pathfinder campaign. Can't speak to porting it to 5E, though.
I would agree. I am currently reading through the Rokugan book for D&D 3.0. It is a great read. You can also get it for under $10 new from TrollandToad.com. That is where I got mine.
To be honest, I'm not much of a 3.X fan to begin with, but in the specific case of L5R I felt that the system was particularly unsuited to the setting. Most of 3.x rules were simply shoehorned into Rokugan as the new Oriental Adventures setting instead of Kara Tur, and I feel it's trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. But if you're really invested into the 3.x system it could be a good intro I guess.
The 3.x Rokugan book is quite decent, though, but the R&K equivalents (particularly the Emerald Empire and Great Clans books from 4E and the Emerald Empire book from 5E, or 1E Way of series) are significantly better, even if not always prettier.
I agree in regards to the rules. But the Rokugan book put out by AEG for 3.x has a lot of fluff. And it is fluff that you can really use in a game as opposed to some of the stand fluff type you get about trade exports, populations size, etc. It tells you more about how the people interact and their beliefs, etc.
spect_spidey wrote: I agree in regards to the rules. But the Rokugan book put out by AEG for 3.x has a lot of fluff. And it is fluff that you can really use in a game as opposed to some of the stand fluff type you get about trade exports, populations size, etc. It tells you more about how the people interact and their beliefs, etc.
Oh, yeah, absolutely, and as I said I agree. That's exactly the reason why I suggested the above books (Great Clans, Emerald Empire, 1E Way of...), specifically because they pretty much exclusively present the information that way: stuff you can use in game about the world.
Actually, until the 3.x books Rokugan never got any kind of information on demographics, trade and the like (nope, not even the Merchant's Guide to Rokugan... you'll see if you open the book ^^). L5R's setting books have consistently been amazingly useful, for the most part (the elemental books were kind of stinkers, and the Secrets of dual R&K/3.x books were not very good either).
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ahtman wrote:We were just talking about it, what with GenCon being around the corner, and it is a game I know about and have read the book but never seen anyone play nor has anyone around here run it. The CCG is similiar in that I've seen the cards for sale for many years but never seen anyone playing it, only rearing its head at GenCon but even then not seen it played just banners and the like.
Ancestral Hamster wrote:L5r: Legend of the Five Rings Story Parts It is not complete, but it is a start on the older AEG-era lore. I do know some things in FFG's version have changed in the card game, and I assume that will hold true of their RPG.
One thing to take into account: Since FFG bought the L5R IP wholesale, they have rebooted the line and reverted the storyline back to the Thousand Years of Peace while at the same time making a certain amount of setting changes. Nothing really world shattering, mind: they've mostly refocused the setting towards a more "human-level" kind of conflicts and away from cosmic events, at least from the get go, which I find entirely appropiate.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/07/30 11:12:03
Honestly, the Rokugan book is most of my familiarity with the L5r world. And DnD 1st/2nd/3rd/4th are most of my familiarity with (P&P) RPGs. So my perspective is limited.
Some of it did feel a bit shoehorned (Samurai should never have been it's own class, for instance). But I'd be curious to hear your more elaborate opinions on where it's most egregious.
The *rules* for 3.x Rokugan were "good enough" I felt. But that could have just been good DMing. What I loved about the book was everything else. Enough rules to play it, but tons of background and worldbuilding.
If I was interested in books like the 3.x Rokugan - world-building books with great concepts (and at least passable rules), what books/systems would you suggest? I doubt I'll actually play another Rokugani campaign, but I still read through old sourcebooks for fun.
I like the sound of shifting more towards "human-level" conflict. Rokugan was the most fun to explore while dealing with "human-level" issues against a backdrop of an existential threat. To have the Empire need to stay solid, while also having the clans and subfactions maneuver against eachother was just so fulfilling.
My favorite campaign ever was more about intrigue. Spoilered because nobody cares, but I wanted to share:
Spoiler:
The party was a Bayushi rogue adept at backroom dealings, a Phoenix shugenja adept at court politics, an assassin/cat burglar who usually took on the persona of a Crane/Scorpion/Dragon samurai (my character) with the above's support, and a commoner heavy thug.
(My character was really good with a blade for a cat burglar. High DEX mid CHA.)
We were ostensibly directed by the Shugenja's dad - the head of the Phoenix clan - to deliver a message to the Dragon clan. Our real goal was that the Scoprion's family had asked her to find and eliminate a shadowy group of assassins. (Note - my character played a Crane when dealing with the Scorpions and Phoenix, and a Scorpion when in the Dragon lands. Easier that way.)
Said person illicitly arranged an assasination of a major Dragon member - and planted enough evidence to implicate us. We were able to stop the assasination, but didn't get the assassins, and were blamed for the attack.
Only the Shugenja and I were actually implicated - as the Scorpion managed to finagle a few things last second. So we were put under arrest. But, as nobles, it was more of a "house arrest" in good quarters.
Then we went through a long investigation. Over a month IRL, playing weekly. During this investigation, I'd constantly sneak out with some help from the thug (deception, not thuggery). We were able to communciate with the Shugenja. And the four of us plotted.
The Scorpion was able to identify where to look for evidence. My character was able to sneak in and find the evidence. A letter from the head of Phoenix asking the assassin group to kill the guy and get us blamed. We found out that
(1) The Shugenja's dad had implicated us
(2) He didn't care if we died
(3) He had hired the group we were after to do the deed
(4) his goal was to have the Dragons insult the Phoenix (such as executing us for a crime), so he could declare war and take some Dragon territory.
The Scorpion and the Shugenja decided we'd forged a replacement letter such that it showed that the head of Phoenix had illicit knowledge that the assasination would happen, and had sent us with an ulterior goal to stop the assasination, to prevent war.
The Scorpion was good at forgery - she pulled it off easily. I put it back. The thug (she had established an intimate relationship with the head investigator) breadcrummed the investigator to the the letter.
This meant that:
1) We were free
2) We were heroes in the eyes of both Phoenix and Dragon
3) The head of Phoenix lost a crap-ton of face (dealings with assasins, not being honest, etc)
4) The Phoenix had no cause for war, and was publicly invested in not going to war (so couldn't declare war)
5) The assassins we were after now "knew" that the head of Phoenix had played them and betrayed them - they'd now be after the guy who just tried to set us up
6) All of the Phoenix and Dragon clan illicit assets were focused on stopping/destroying the assassins. Binding the clans together, and preventing war. Thus strengthening the Empire. Which made the Scorpion clan even happier with us than if we had eliminated them.
Such a wonderful campaign. Such a glorious solution.
Bharring wrote: Honestly, the Rokugan book is most of my familiarity with the L5r world. And DnD 1st/2nd/3rd/4th are most of my familiarity with (P&P) RPGs. So my perspective is limited.
Some of it did feel a bit shoehorned (Samurai should never have been it's own class, for instance). But I'd be curious to hear your more elaborate opinions on where it's most egregious.
Well, honestly it has more to do with the core conceits of 3.x; D&D, at it's core, is a system that was created from the get go with a certain set of assumptions, and those are imbued in its workings, like leveling making you harder to kill no matter what you specialize in, weapon damage not being affected by the wielder's skill (save for hitting chance, and even then gets muddy, because fighting level appropiate foes will make that chance about 50-60%)... that sort of stuff.
I mean, Rokugan is not a bad 3.x adaptation... but it is still mainly D&D with samurai.
The *rules* for 3.x Rokugan were "good enough" I felt. But that could have just been good DMing. What I loved about the book was everything else. Enough rules to play it, but tons of background and worldbuilding.
The rules were "good enough", yes, particularly with a good DM. But I am a big proponent of the "system matters" philosophy, and rather than play a game that's "good enough" for a particular campaign setting or theme, I usually try to go for a game that's "good" or "great" for it.
If I was interested in books like the 3.x Rokugan - world-building books with great concepts (and at least passable rules), what books/systems would you suggest? I doubt I'll actually play another Rokugani campaign, but I still read through old sourcebooks for fun.
Would you prefer books with 3.x rules in it (which would limit the pool to the dual books) or would you also like to know about other books?
If you're looking for 3.x books I'd start with the Way of series, both because they open up character options and because they also open up setting options. Way of the daimyo, for example, has a lot of info on provinces and how they are run, temples, and war in Rokugan, as well as the tools to use them in game.
If you don't mind taking a look to R&K books, well... the sky's the limit, really:
From First edition, you have a boatload of really great stuff, starting with the Way of series of sourcebooks (which still are some of the most flavorful books about the clans) to the City of Lies boxed set (one of the very best city sourcebooks ever written, period) to the Book of the Shadowlands (which is... you really should look that one up), but the line is crammed with really, really good stuff.
2nd edition was mostly the dual books, so those you probably know already (and I talked about those above)
The best books for 3E would be the Emerald Empire Book (the 4E one is mostly a reprint, so either would be good) and the timeline books, but that era was full of rules, so you may want to skip ahead to 4E.
4E books tended to consolidate a lot of stuff: You have Emerald Empire (as said above, basically a reprint), Enemies of the Empire (Shadowlands, ancient races, other realms, ronin an the Lost, oh my), The Great Clans (...well, what says in the tin ) and Secrets of the Empire (Imperial families, more on ronin, and a lot of other stuff) are all very interesting, and the two Imperial Histories books are a real treat (basically campaign ideas, going from other eras of the Empire to alternate timelines to really out there stuff like a Space Opera L5R setting).
As for 5E it's starting; the core doesn't have too much setting stuff that's not embebbed into the rules, so if you aren't interested on that I'd skip it, but the new Emerald Empire book is an absolute must, IMHO.
I like the sound of shifting more towards "human-level" conflict. Rokugan was the most fun to explore while dealing with "human-level" issues against a backdrop of an existential threat. To have the Empire need to stay solid, while also having the clans and subfactions maneuver against eachother was just so fulfilling.
You might have inferred as much from my comments but I really, really agree
My favorite campaign ever was more about intrigue. Spoilered because nobody cares, but I wanted to share:
Spoiler:
The party was a Bayushi rogue adept at backroom dealings, a Phoenix shugenja adept at court politics, an assassin/cat burglar who usually took on the persona of a Crane/Scorpion/Dragon samurai (my character) with the above's support, and a commoner heavy thug.
(My character was really good with a blade for a cat burglar. High DEX mid CHA.)
We were ostensibly directed by the Shugenja's dad - the head of the Phoenix clan - to deliver a message to the Dragon clan. Our real goal was that the Scoprion's family had asked her to find and eliminate a shadowy group of assassins. (Note - my character played a Crane when dealing with the Scorpions and Phoenix, and a Scorpion when in the Dragon lands. Easier that way.)
Said person illicitly arranged an assasination of a major Dragon member - and planted enough evidence to implicate us. We were able to stop the assasination, but didn't get the assassins, and were blamed for the attack.
Only the Shugenja and I were actually implicated - as the Scorpion managed to finagle a few things last second. So we were put under arrest. But, as nobles, it was more of a "house arrest" in good quarters.
Then we went through a long investigation. Over a month IRL, playing weekly. During this investigation, I'd constantly sneak out with some help from the thug (deception, not thuggery). We were able to communciate with the Shugenja. And the four of us plotted.
The Scorpion was able to identify where to look for evidence. My character was able to sneak in and find the evidence. A letter from the head of Phoenix asking the assassin group to kill the guy and get us blamed. We found out that
(1) The Shugenja's dad had implicated us
(2) He didn't care if we died
(3) He had hired the group we were after to do the deed
(4) his goal was to have the Dragons insult the Phoenix (such as executing us for a crime), so he could declare war and take some Dragon territory.
The Scorpion and the Shugenja decided we'd forged a replacement letter such that it showed that the head of Phoenix had illicit knowledge that the assasination would happen, and had sent us with an ulterior goal to stop the assasination, to prevent war.
The Scorpion was good at forgery - she pulled it off easily. I put it back. The thug (she had established an intimate relationship with the head investigator) breadcrummed the investigator to the the letter.
This meant that:
1) We were free
2) We were heroes in the eyes of both Phoenix and Dragon
3) The head of Phoenix lost a crap-ton of face (dealings with assasins, not being honest, etc)
4) The Phoenix had no cause for war, and was publicly invested in not going to war (so couldn't declare war)
5) The assassins we were after now "knew" that the head of Phoenix had played them and betrayed them - they'd now be after the guy who just tried to set us up
6) All of the Phoenix and Dragon clan illicit assets were focused on stopping/destroying the assassins. Binding the clans together, and preventing war. Thus strengthening the Empire. Which made the Scorpion clan even happier with us than if we had eliminated them.
Such a wonderful campaign. Such a glorious solution.
Unsurprisingly, I have had a great time playing the L5R roleplaying game — specifically, 4E.
My main takeaway is, the players really need a deep sense of the setting to get anything out of the RPG. The main draw of L5R RPG is the opposite of the main draw of D&D. Whereas D&D is about playing someone not content with what would be their ordinary position in society and so who goes a’rangin’ o’er the countryside and a’searchin’ after adventure, the L5R RPG is about characters living up to the duties, obligations, responsibilities of one’s place in society. Considering everyone (er, everyone worthwhile) is walking around with a three-foot razor blade, there is a baseline level of anxiety driving nearly all interactions. Not that fights need break out all over the place; just that, manners matter quite a lot in this kind of well-armed and hypersensitive society.
Well I found a game via Discord so Ima find out how it goes XD
Apparently we’re doing a solo Clan campaign which is an Idea I like more now that we’ve started building the characters into one another’s backstories.
One thing we noticed playing is that multi-clan parties can strain storytelling. It wasn't so much a problem in our biggest campaign, because all three nobles (Scorpion, Shugenja, Pretend-To-Be-One) were much more invested in each other than in their Clans/families. But my "Lawful Stupid" Dodoji or "Ends justify the means" Bayushi could be problematic in that regard.
If you're all from the same clan, ostensibly the group is all-in on the clan's goals. If one is from Lion, another from Crane, and there's a conflict between those clans - there can be problems.
It's like in classic D&D how you can't have a murderhobo and a Lawful Stupid Paladin in the same party and just expect to have a good time.
It came down to Crane vs Scorpian, but we worried Scorpion might be hard for new players (there’s three of us in the group) so the group settled on Crane.
Deathwatch 
AdMech 
Necron
Ultramarines, 3rd Co. and friends, 16k+ 
4k 
2k Points
Competition Index
) and Secrets of the Empire (Imperial families, more on ronin, and a lot of other stuff) are all very interesting, and the two Imperial Histories books are a real treat (basically campaign ideas, going from other eras of the Empire to alternate timelines to really out there stuff like a Space Opera L5R setting).
